The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword’s Motion Controlled Epona Of The Sky

Set in islands in the sky, a horse (unless it was Pegasus) wouldn’t work in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Nintendo has a mount for Link and in this game it’s a giant red bird.

The bird riding demo began with Link, still dressed in regular clothes, leaping of a cliff with his friends and onto the back of a red bird. A short event scene also introduced, as the game calls her, the Lovely Zelda. She’s a regular girl in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

The goal of this demo is to catch a golden bird. I moved Link and his avian steed by tilting and turning the Wii remote. Flicking the remote didn’t have an effect, the bird riding demo was most responsive when I gently moved the controller.

Just like Epona, Link’s bird has "carrots" or feathers seen on the bottom of the screen. Press A and you can use one to get a quick burst of speed. The feathers, at least in the demo, restore quickly. I found myself rapidly hitting A, only stopping for a few seconds for all three feather power to recharge.

The golden bird weaved in an unpredictable pattern. I saw another player trailing it from behind, but I had a different strategy. I waited until the target turned, then intercepted it by using all three feathers to charge at it in a straight line. That worked, but one of Link’s "buddies" a guy riding a blue bird was jealous of Link hogging the glory. He knocked Link away from the bird, so I had to catch it a second time.

My reward was a bird statue and a scene of Link bird riding with Zelda.

The ammount of motion controls in this game makes me sick. I didn’t enjoy the last E3 demo because they’d crammed it into EVERY part of the game. I’ll be surprised if they don’t make me strap sensors to my feet to move Link.

I’m still hoping there will be a Classic Controller option otherwise I won’t buy this game. It’s too much after the novelty wears off, and that took all of 5 minutes for me.

It’s a shame because the game is shaping up nicely.

lostinblue

Fat chance.

Yui

I swear, this game just keeps getting better and better. I hope the bird’s movement is freeform so we can explore more of these islands in the sky. That’s probably the biggest draw of the new mount for me at this point, reminds me of Ricky. :D

I haven’t got Motion Plus yet, I still yet to decide either to get Wii remote with moition now (with Fling oR Wii Sports Resort) or wait until the inevitable Skyward Sword bundle is release, possibly with special edition wii remote!

Yes I agree, it would be nice if there is speed boost of sorts, also I guess they can also do what they did in Wind Waker which was have some mini-games to get extra rupees or something while travelling

Digging the style. It doesn’t have as much charm as Wind Waker or the mysteriousness of Majoras but it’s a good trade-off between what “fans” want and what actually looks good, definitely doesn’t completely turn me off like Twilight Princess did

Let’s hope this bird controls much better than that bloody vulture in Mario Galaxy 2. :I

Otherwise, I’m somewhat interested in this.

YsyDoesIt

I really want Sheik to make a comeback.

I just don’t feel it happening in this environment.

KeyCross

I hope there is going to be some action while flying or at least the distance between the islands isn´t that big. I would enjoy watching the characters fly for a couple of minutes, but after a while I can imagine myself getting bored. Specially if there is going to be many delivery quests.